VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #1434/01 2191356
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061356Z AUG 08
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2403
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC//DAS-ZD/DACS-ZK//
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
RHMFIUU/CMC WASHINGTON DC
RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7248
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4237
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4090
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 5584
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4002
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2571

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 001434 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS BBG 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR ABRAMS 
CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS
SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (8/06):  National dialogue must be 
based on "attachment to Palestine" 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
------------- 
The dominant story in all the dailies is the threat made by Israeli 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak to launch a widespread Israeli military 
operation in the Gaza Strip.  The threat, which Barak delivered in a 
speech before the Labor party on August 5 in Jerusalem, was 
broadcast on Israeli radio.  All the dailies cover Hamas' subsequent 
warning to Israeli to refrain from committing any violations of the 
Hamas/Israel truce agreement.  Al-Quds reports that in a press 
conference held on August 5, following a meeting of the former Hamas 
government in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leader Taher Al-Nunu confirmed 
Hamas' commitment to the truce and strongly warned Israel against 
violating it. Al-Ayyam quotes an unnamed Hamas leader as saying on 
August 5 that, "Barak's threats are 'ridiculous' and we [Hamas] are 
ready for all options."  Al-Hayat Al-Jadida writes that Islamic 
Jihad and Hamas dismissed Barak's declarations as election 
propaganda. 
 
Al-Quds and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida front-page news about the expected 
meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas 
and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on August 6 in Jerusalem. 
According to an AFP story cited by both dailies, the Chief 
Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Sa'eb Erekat, announced on August 5 that 
Abbas and Olmert will discuss final status issues that were raised 
"a year ago" under U.S. sponsorship.  In addition, he said that they 
would discuss the issue of checkpoints in the West Bank and the fate 
of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.  The dailies also cite 
a story published in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan, claiming that 
during today's meeting, Abbas expects Olmert to provide an answer to 
his request that Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi be released from 
prison.  Abbas reportedly made this request when he met with Olmert 
in Paris. 
 
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida covers the August 5th meeting between President 
Abbas and U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles in Ramallah, citing the 
official Palestine news agency WAFA when writing that Abbas briefed 
the Consul General on the latest developments in the Palestinian 
Territories and on the efforts that have been made to push the peace 
process forward.  This article is accompanied by a large, 
above-the-fold photo of Abbas and Walles during their meeting at the 
Presidential Office.  Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that a "reliable 
Palestinian source" said to AFP on August 5 that U.S. Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Palestinian Territories and 
Israel on August 20 to meet with Abbas and Olmert, and with Israeli 
and Palestinian negotiators.  The source added that a trilateral 
Israeli/Palestinian/American meeting will be held to evaluate the 
negotiations and push them forward. 
 
All dailies report that Washington revoked the visas of four 
students from the Gaza Strip who had received scholarships to study 
in the U.S.  Agencies report that according to an American official, 
the visas of three Gazan students with Fulbright scholarships were 
revoked after receiving "new information on them [the students]." 
An official at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem said, "we found new 
information which led us to revoke the visas prudentially." 
Officials added that the visa of a fourth student from the Gaza 
Strip, who had been granted a different scholarship, was also 
cancelled. 
 
Al-Quds reports that Abbas met with members of the Hilles family 
from the Gaza Strip on August 5 at his office in Ramallah and 
reportedly reiterated his support for them. 
 
 
All dailies highlight meetings that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam 
Fayyad held with various committees and institutions for the defense 
of Palestinian land on August 5. Fayyad thanked the committees and 
institutions for their hard work in dealing with the problems of the 
separation barrier and of settlement activities. He also praised the 
Palestinian people's tolerance of Israeli actions in Palestinian 
villages and of the suffering they endure due to the separation 
barrier and the settlements. 
 
 
 
------------ 
BLOCK QUOTES: 
------------ 
 
¶1. Independent Al-Quds runs its daily editorial entitled, "Dialogue 
based on attachment to Palestine" (8/06): "Although [Palestinian] 
parties [Fatah and Hamas] have closed their ears to the calls made 
by both Palestinians and the wider Arab world for a serious and 
effective dialogue for the sake of the lost Palestinian unity, it is 
the duty of all those who are loyal to the Palestinian people, its 
cause, and a Palestinian future on its own land, not to stop 
repeating their calls because these calls might in the end reach 
these two big parties [Fatah and Hamas] in the Gaza Strip and the 
West Bank. The two parties might realize that there is no other way 
except for dialogue and that dialogue is the only way to end the 
division and the split between the two sides [the Gaza Strip and the 
West Bank] of the homeland ... Only national dialogue based on an 
attachment to Palestine...can draw a limit to the division and split 
that we [Palestinians] have reached.  The Palestinian leaderships 
and the decision makers of all factions...are responsible for the 
destiny of the [Palestinian] people and the Palestinian cause. 
These leaderships must be well qualified to launch Palestinian 
initiatives for reconciliation and end the division without the need 
of external mediation ... The worsening situation in the Gaza Strip 
reached the point where Fatah members took refuge in Israel after 
the sad clashes in the Al-Shaja'iya neighborhood in Gaza. Such 
deterioration in the situation is dangerous and is a warning for 
everybody as to the severe condition which the Palestinian cause has 
reached. The value of the Palestinian cause has become ridiculous in 
the eyes of Arab and international countries, when once the 
Palestinian struggle was an example of which all the world boasted. 
The majority of Palestinians ask for an end to this catastrophic 
situation, and again we say, and we will not tire of saying: 
enough." 
 
WALLES